Top sports programs of the week

Here are the most-watched sports TV programs for the previous week, according to The Nielsen Co.:

Top Sports Telecasts from Feb. 23-March 1, 2009

Network

Date

Start time

Program

Viewers

Fox

March 1

4:47 p.m.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Shelby 427

11,123,130

Fox

March 1

3:30 p.m.

NASCAR Shelby 427 pre-race

6,295,876

ABC

March 1

3:41 p.m.

NBA: Lakers vs. Suns

4,745,128

ESPN2

Feb. 28

4:30 p.m.

NASCAR Nationwide Sam's Town 300

2,832,506

ABC

March 1

12:57 p.m.

NBA: Pistons vs. Celtics

3,098,110

TNT

Feb. 26

10:44 p.m.

NBA: Suns vs. Lakers

2,555,494

NBC

March 1

2 p.m.

World Golf Championships: Match Play Championship

2,843,097

ESPN

Feb. 23

9:07 p.m.

Men's college basketball: Kansas vs. Oklahoma

2,461,240

TNT

Feb. 26

8:15 p.m.

NBA: Cavaliers vs. Rockets

2,335,452

CBS

March 1

2:04 p.m.

Men's college basketball: Missouri vs. Kansas/Tennessee vs. Florida

2,515,678

The rankings are based on Live + Same Day average audience estimates for all sports telecasts airing between Feb. 23-March 1, 2009, excluding those that were less than 15 minutes long. The rankings exclude professional wrestling telecasts and Ultimate Fighting (MMA) telecasts.

Copyrighted data of The Nielsen Co. Reprinted with permission. Unauthorized reproduction and use strictly prohibited.